Ripple has received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Ripple National Trust Bank, giving the cryptocurrency company a federally supervised national trust bank for its RLUSD stablecoin and digital-asset custody operations.
The approval completes a process that began with a conditional charter granted in December 2025. According to Decrypt, the OCC’s latest decision comes as Ripple and other crypto companies face legal and political challenges over whether national trust charters provide an alternative route into banking without the full obligations imposed on traditional banks.
What Ripple’s bank will do
Once it begins operations, Ripple National Trust Bank is expected to perform three main functions. It will manage the segregated reserves backing RLUSD, serve as the collateral trustee for those reserves on behalf of stablecoin holders, and provide fiduciary digital-asset custody services to businesses.
RLUSD, or Ripple USD, is a stablecoin designed to maintain a value close to the U.S. dollar. Ripple launched it in December 2024, and the token had a market capitalization of about $2.6 billion, according to CoinGecko. Ripple says RLUSD is used across its payments network and as collateral in its Ripple Prime brokerage business. BNY is the stablecoin’s primary reserve custodian.
The new bank will not issue RLUSD directly. Issuance will remain with Standard Custody & Trust Company, Ripple’s limited-purpose trust company regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. With the federal charter, the stablecoin’s reserve and custody arrangements will sit within a structure involving both state and federal supervision.
Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse described the approval as evidence that cryptocurrency and the traditional banking system can operate together. In a statement, he said the charter demonstrated what that cooperation could look like in practice. He also wrote on social media that the industry’s transformation was taking place within the existing financial system rather than outside it.
The OCC conditionally approved charter applications in December 2025 from several companies, including Ripple, Circle, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets and BitGo. Ripple’s final approval now moves its application beyond the conditional stage.
A contested route into banking
The charter arrives amid a broader dispute over the OCC’s decisions to approve national trust banks for crypto-related firms. Senator Elizabeth Warren has argued that approvals involving companies such as Ripple and Coinbase conflict with the National Bank Act. In a letter to Comptroller Jonathan Gould, she said the firms were effectively crypto banks seeking to avoid the safeguards and responsibilities associated with banking.
Traditional community-bank representatives have also challenged the charters. Earlier this month, the Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC in federal court. The group described the approvals as a possible “side door” into the banking system for crypto companies, arguing that such firms could avoid requirements applied to conventional banks, including capital rules, consolidated supervision and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance.
The crypto industry has urged the OCC to defend the approvals. The Digital Chamber, a trade association, called on the agency to support the charters and continue establishing clear supervisory expectations for national trust banks.
Ripple said it would continue working with the OCC, the New York Department of Financial Services and other regulators as the bank moves toward operations. The company also said this work would take place as the United States implements the GENIUS Act’s framework for stablecoins.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar market data recorded at the times shown below puts XRP at $1.2991099051, up 0.56% over 24 hours and 0.09% over seven days, as of October 25, 2026, at 22:38 +03:30.
RLUSD was priced at $0.9999277618, down 0.01% over both 24 hours and seven days, according to Moneyiar data recorded on October 25, 2026, at 22:39 +03:30. The figures show the token trading close to its intended dollar value.
The same Moneyiar snapshot showed STABLE at $0.0265498473, down 2.51% over 24 hours but up 10.84% over seven days. Decentraland’s MANA stood at $0.0782023179, down 1% over 24 hours and 6.08% over seven days. These market figures are separate from the OCC’s regulatory decision and do not indicate how the approval will affect future prices.
